Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA ho Racing Motocross Manager St6ve rrrhitelock responded to reports that there has been frictaon between Al'{A Pro and t ack- builders Dirt Wurx over the rack modmca- tions that have been requested by Al4A Pro at the previous races at Phoenix and also at Ana- heim II. "l fiink thai they understand M/here I'm toinS and what I'm trring to do, and thq/'re buildint a track that's more under- slandable now There! no fric6on, and there never should have been any friction. All I said was that we need to look at how we do them [the track] because the bikes are so much better than they've ever been before, and *rey're puttirE toSether things thar we never ima8ined them beint able to quad or triple, The b€6t way to explain it is that we want a racetrack that the riders race each other on, not race the racetrack. I iust want to say that Wink [Durt \.r'urx's tuch Winkler] ir doinS a Sreat iob. He does a good job wi*r the basic layout. We're iust lookint at some of the dis- tances." down in the comel and he was picking ham- self up," Stewart said, describing the crash from the podium. "l looked over the jump, and as soon as I landed, ny front end staft- ed washing. There was nothirg I could do. lYy hat's off to Ricky. He rode a great race. lt was great, clean, and I'm sure you gLr)6 lored it- I'm sorr/ it had to end like this. lwanted it to go down to the 20th lap and rnay the best man win, but we'll be back. We've got another stop here [Angel Stadium February 41, and it'll be fun, lt was cool." Furtherrnore, there was a clear contro- versy b€tween Reed and Tedesco, who see- sawed back and forth for two laps e-arly in the race before Reed finally stuffed his way past Tedesco in the right-hander bewveen the two whoop sections on lap eigtrt, After the race, Reed and Tedesco exchanged words, and Reed insuhed Tedesco during his podium interview "Tedesco is iust being a chr-rmp," Reed said. "l don't know l don't know whar to do. You can only do so much, tD/ to ride your own race, but when the guy in front of you is riding your race as well, it makes it tou8h. lwanted to get up with these guys [Carmichael and Stewart]. This track was fast, and it was quite easy to see that we all had the speed. I iust wanted tg get up there and battle and put the lap6 toSether you know make it a three-way baftle. I iust 8ot stuck in the middle a little bit tog much, but I'm riding good. The bike's awesome. I just gota get uP there." Tedesco later responded to Reed's com- mem. "He's got a lot more to lose than I do," Tedesco said. "\y'y'hen I passed him back, I Durt Wurx's Ri.h Winkler said that he is not oved), happy with havinS to chante the track designs. "l undeEtand where Sle /e Wl{telock is comint from," winkler said. "There has been a lot of complaininS from the factories. The problem for us - and I think that Steve is starting to realize - is that a lot of it is contra- dictory There's no comensus rhat thia as tech- nical or that's not te.hnical. lt own opinon is that this ii some attempt to endneer the tracks to work better wifi one Sroup's bike or rider than the other. lthink Steve is realizing that as well, and he has beer! very cordial and cooperative with us. We donl Set the feeling that this is remedial or that he is reininS us in, but wE provide these drawings to the AmA and to the factories some time in Octobe( and I think that if there were issues, it would have b€en a little more professional to addres! them a little e:dier." Winkler said that he will be the first to admit that the whoop section at Ana- heim I wa' not "good ' and lhat a mistake was made. "But the broadenint of the complaint to the poinr thar ttle whole track wes too te.hni- cal ts a little unfajr I think that people got caught up in their emotion! when the trvo top Suys went dovh in the whoops - one in prac- tice and one in the ra.e - and there was a bit of an overre,rction. But we [Din WUrx] want to be a part of the lolution and l)ot the problem." Vvhile Team Kawasaki's rames Stew-an refused to commenf on tlle ease of the track, his teammate, Mlch.el Byrne did. "l didn'( think that Anaheim I w"s even that hard," Byme said. 'The only thinS that was rally tough wes just the whoops. Other than that it wasnl that dificult, r€ally. Last weekend and thls weekend we've got all these bi8 long straightaways. They should be filled wi$ obstacl6 to tr7 and separate some people." When asked about the relative ease of the Phoenix and Anal|€im ll trd€k, RIdry C.armichael responded, "Well. I am in a differ- ent stage of rny career than dtese 8uF, I think it is better racing, tllerc are more Suys up front aod this is going to generate more TV time. lt is Soing to be better for eveo/My. The b€6t 8uy is elways Sonna win, no rutter the track conditions. I know the tnck war pretty e.3y tonight. but - you know what - h v/a3rft easy to put 20 Sood laps in. I was making mistakes and I know James was. Everybody is talking about NASCAR and we need to be like that. \,{ell, it's connnued on poge l9 CYCLE NEWS . FEBRUARY I, 2006 17 Briefly... % i lt I ,. ,. T. a ra I t F .\ :!r- 1dfiil' t ,-rf/'s 4ra: s Both Cqrmichoel dnd Stewort ; hod to moke some quirk poss"s I the fircl few lope. r4r s with the outcome. but thrilled with the racing. \ I I {l : TIJ -i5 he akita Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael may have been handed the win during round three of the Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series at Angel Sadium in Anaheim, Califor- nia, but it would be hard to argue that he wasn't good for it. For 18 lapsrhe 26-year-old Carmichael showed that he had the speed to hang with young heir apparent James Stewan, and he was in the right place at the right time when the super-talented Team Kawasaki rider crasM in a corner while trying to avoid a fallen lapper. Had Stewart not gone down, the outcome of the race would probably have been a coin toss. lnstead, before a sellout crowd of 45,050, Carmichael banked his 49th career Al'4A Supercross win, his second of the year, and his second in a row by crossing the flnish line .1.989 seconds ahead of runner-up Chad Reed, the Team Yamaha man unhappily forced to do battle widr an ever-improving lvan Tedesco once the Makita Suzuki's $jpercross-chss rookie dropped back after leading the flrcr three laps ofthe 20Jap main event. A{ter managin8 to quicky pick his bike up and get it restaned, Stewan sal,/aged third-place points from a potential disaster Tedesco was for.rth. with American Honda's Jeremy Hccrdth landing his second top-five finish in as many Q

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